Remembering Your Own Accountability

July 2nd, 2010

What I love about the coaching process is the fact that the client holds the responsibility for his/her own decisions and actions. Yes, he is being supported, assisted, possibly even sent through a few brain storming sessions but at the end of the day ….he is the one who comes with his own outcome. He is the one being held accountable for it.

People who have a coach are being reminded about the fact that they are the only ones responsible for their lives on a regular basis….but what about the rest of the population? What about those who have not decided to seek coaching or are not in a position to go through with it?

Presumably, deep inside we all know about personal accountability or we have heard it somewhere along the way. Why is it then that we tend to forget and loose ourselves in endless complaining, criticising, sulking, moaning and groaning? The answer is simple: because it is easier. It takes 5 seconds to utter a complaint about the leaking toilet; it takes 30 minutes to organize somebody to fix it. It takes one coffee break to “unload” about the boredom of your job; it might potentially take months to find another one.

And so, day after day and month after month we go around in the same circles of realization that something in our lives is very wrong and at the same time we accept our impotence of not doing anything about it.

And while you are doing your circles, the solution is so blatantly simple. Stop before you utter another complaint. Accept your responsibility. Then take an action and do something about it. Simple, really. 3 steps and I make them easy to remember: Ready (to complain), Steady (to realize what you are about to do, stop yourself and remind yourself of who is in charge) and Go (towards the action). Yes and one more for the road: Don’t look back, only ahead.